Metro News & Reviews

Transportation headlines, Friday, February 10

Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the Library’s Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

Even as biking increases in popularity in the Southland, there remains a troubling and persistent gender gap among riders. A recent L.A. County Bike Coalition survey found a ratio of roughly 80 male riders per 20 female riders. But a new organization, Women on Bikes SoCal, has set about to empower more women to try cycling; specifically, the group wants to double the number of women riders in the next five years. Check out the Zev’s Blog for a great overview of some of the leaders in the movement to close the gender gap and their strategies for doing so. A key one: creating safe bike facilities so that you don’t have to be a “daredevil” to bike in L.A.

Transportation legislation is heating up in Congress and the Republican-led House of Representatives has unveiled a plan that would remove dedicated funding for public transit, to the strong consternation of transit agencies and advocates. Transportation Nation reviews the 30-year history of Congress’ dedicating a portion of the federal gas tax to public transit projects and notes that it all started under President Regan, who pushed through a bill to raise the gas tax in 1982 by 125 percent and then dedicated 20 percent of that increase to transit.

After rolling out zip cars to urban locations in Hollywood last year, the company is moving west into another of SoCal’s walkable, transit-friendly cities. It’s great to see car-sharing expand beyond college campuses, because it’s one of many tools that make it easier to enjoy the benefits ($$$) of living car-free or car-light.

A former Metro bus yard in South L.A. has been reincarnated as a park and wetlands, thanks to water quality bond funds and various state and local grants. Community members can enjoy the walking paths and still-arriving wildlife, while “naturally occurring bacteria clean pollutants from the water, which eventually feeds into a storm drain.”